When I heard Toyotafest was going to be held at the Queen Mary - the legendary ship docked in Long Beach, California - my mouth started salivating. A whole bunch of fixed up Toyotas all in one place? I'm in heaven. As longtime readers know, I have a special place in my heart for Toyotas ever since I picked up my first - an MR2 Turbo - over 10 years ago. Toyota has a solid motorsports history, commitment to catering to the performance audience (via TRD) and builds quality, long-lasting vehicles.
I cruised out early and the show was already in full swing. What first hit me was how many Scions were there. Yes, Scion is part of Toyota - but aren't there enough Scion events already? Scion has thrown more meets in the past year than Supra shows have had nationally for the past decade. However, I don't mean that negatively - it's great there is that much enthusiasm. I just wish there were more classic Toyotas at the event, and not so many cars with that fresh-off-the-dealership-floor look.
Speaking of Supras, there were none. Okay, there was one. I guess the granddaddy of Toyotas decided Supras were too good to show at a general Toyota meet. I guess special cars have to have their own special show.
A zillion and one hachi-rokus showed out in full force. There were some impressive engine bays and JDM body dressings. My personal favorites were the earlier Corollas and Celicas from 1971 and '72 on display. To sum them up in one word: clean. I was so impressed by one in particular that had an S2000 engine swap (how sacrilegious, I know), that I'm trying to pin him down for a future Turbo feature article. A tiny picture here will not do justice to this beauty.
TRD was on hand to show off a new Yaris that had already been modified into a pretty mean street machine. Also on the TRD ogling menu: a pristine 2000GT. (Now if I just had the $100,000 to buy it for my collection.)
The only downside of the show was, to my dismay, that there weren't many MR2 turbos or older Starlets. However, there was plenty of other eye candy for any Toyota fan. I'll have to sign-up my real-deal TRD wide-body MR2 turbo to show next year. For info on next year's Toyotafest be sure to check out www.toyotaclub.org.
Due to an unfortunate track racing accident Tech Editor Mike Kojima landed himself in the hospital and thus had a really good excuse not to be able to write his Tech Scene column this month. We chided him for going to such extreme lengths to get out of work. Fear not, as Mike is making a 100% recovery and will be back next month. Feel free to write in and tell him he should really improve his shitty driving skills.